A
Anonymous
Guest
Holiday Valley, Western NY- 1/17/02: Took a day trip up from Akron. We ran into heavy snowfall just outside of Eire, PA on I86, slowed us down quite a bit but we were able to maintain 35-55 mph for the most part. As always, the deepest snow on the entire trip was just before Lake Chautagua. The snow at HV was excellent- they were claiming 6” new which I’d say is about right. /image {Terrain Park}Being a Friday the crowd was small, especially early in the day and you could find excellent pockets of very light, fluffy, powder at the edges of just about any trail. They were blowing snow all day at a few locations, I guess just to cover the MLK weekend ice. The entire mountain (hill?) was open. /image{Cindy's and Sunrise} The few non-snowmaking trails had light cover with a bit of dirt/gravel showing through by the end of the day. /image{Falcon}}Very little ice was present in the AM but by the end of the day the usual spots had been scraped free. PS- My son had a ski sharpener- Swix, which I had used earlier in the year- the ski’s really seemed to have decent bite on the ice, or it just wasn’t bullet proof stuff. Anyway, back to skiing/boarding. Best run of the day was Yodeler- it’s steep enough that its usually bumped up but today there was a nice coating of smooth powder which made it a joy. Same with Champagne. Even the Wall didn’t look too bad although most everyone fell on it. The bump run was Falcon (not my forte). My daughter and I really enjoyed trails on the Sunrise lift- not too crowded, steep enough to enjoy, and powder pockets everywhere. Did I mention the powder? I’d forgotten how much fun it was to turn in- I think I’ve spent too much time falling in thick heavy snow! <BR>Anyway- A+++ day- No lines, great snow, juniors skied free.